I’ve never really gotten into any of the X-Com games over the years, and to be completely honest, I’m not sure why. I’ve heard nothing but great things about them, but with Star Wars Zero Company essentially reviving the genre more recently, I felt compelled to dive a little deeper and check this one out. After all, I am a massive Star Wars fan, so I really had no choice.
That being said, I’m loving what I’ve both seen and played of Star Wars: Zero Company so far. Our hands-on time with the game has been relatively generous, and our extended look at some of the game’s systems and characters has really highlighted this as one of the biggest surprises yet to release this year.
Your Hawks, Your Way
Before getting hands-on with Star Wars Zero Company, the Bit Reactor team, including Greg Foertsch (Game Director), James Brawley (Lead Designer), Aaron Contreras (Narrative Director) and Lucasfilm Games’ Orion Kellogg (Executive Producer), took us through some of the game’s backstory, setting and general story, which I’m already a big fan of.
Star Wars Zero Company is set during the Clone Wars, and sees players taking on the role of Hawks, a disgraced ex-Republic officer, blamed for failing a mission that killed their entire unit. Looking for a new crew and fresh start, you soon become embroiled in the workings of The Coil, an enemy that seeks to use a viral force known as the Shadow Plague to infect those nearby and control them.
While Hawks has a default look, you can indeed customise them as you wish, be it gender, species and various cosmetic options. I don’t want to downplay the impressive amount of options on offer here, but I really liked this default version of Hawks. His aged look and grizzled nature do a great job of painting a rather traumatic past, but upon playing the game, I must also add here that the male voice acting is great.
A New Squad
Throughout the game, Hawks will also be assembling a team of rogues and allies alike, and this customisable nature of the experience also extends to the team. It will also be a team complete with an interchangeable team, and in some cases, you’ll have to complete certain “hero” missions in order to acquire their services.
Our time with Star Wars Zero Company focused less on these missions and more on straightforward story missions, but there are opportunities to recruit more generic allies, which come complete with their own weapons, abilities and short backstories, instead of dedicated missions.
For the most part, you’ll need these recruits too. Permadeath is certainly a thing in Star Wars Zero Company, and anyone aside from Hawks can die at any point. While it is recommended for the intended gameplay experience, it is worth noting that this feature can be disabled. If Hawks dies, though, the mission will need to be restarted. Hero missions will also cause missions to restart, but once they’re on the team, their death will be permanent.
We got to spend time with characters like Trick, Cab Uppercut, Runa Blask, and Niche, and they’ve all got their own unique skills, personalities, and relationships with Hawks. We were told we’ll also be meeting plenty of other characters along the way, along with custom operators through the recruitment facility once unlocked. These characters won’t have a backstory, but will have their own perks and abilities. Oh yeah, there’s even the opportunity to command a full squad of customisable Clone Troopers.
Star Wars Zero Company also allows players to mess around and experiment with various combinations of recruits, which can unlock and enhance specialist skills between characters. Secondary specialisations for certain characters can even be unlocked later on the track if you choose to use them consistently. This is not only meant to broaden your scope for various missions, but also allows for multiple playthroughs as well.
Home Base and Beyond
Between missions, The Den will serve as your base of operations, located on the ring of Kafrene, seen in Rogue One. The Den will house an office for Hawks and a fully explorable base, including the central Holotable, which will provide an interactive galaxy map for non-combative opportunities, most of which are only available within specific windows. I feel as though, while these smaller opportunities play out in text-based conversations, their context is somewhat lost on more casual players.
Tactical missions, however, serve as the main combat missions for Star Wars Zero Company. These will also progress the story, and each campaign can present different opportunities across a dozen iconic locations, including Serolonis, Bespin, Mapuzo, Lotahal and Dantoonie.
You’ll command your squad in turns, maximising their effectiveness as you use their allotted AP points to complete commands like moving from point to point, attacking enemies and even backing up squad mates. You’ll also need to complete various objectives here, and the tension can ramp up quite quickly as you navigate waves of enemies, fighting for the best pooting while making your way to a certain point of the map.
Skills and equipment will also play a role, and squad mates must usually work together here, which will also to create and strengthen bonds to unlock new support and shared abilities. The Bond level will also eventually lead to that aforementioned second unloacable ability, which could include providing backup fire, healing, or even reviving downed squad mates.
On the other hand, weakened bonds will also cause tension and friction, which will also affect gameplay in negative ways, while players must also pay attention to how Hawks’ leadership decisions could also impact morale.
Finally, there are also plenty of cinematics and story beats here, and I’m a huge fan of the score that accompanies most of these moments.
Thoughts So Far
Star Wars Zero Company seems deep, diverse, and ultimately incredibly engaging, making it one of the more promising releases of the year. Our time spent with it only enhanced the excitement for building a new squad, meeting new characters, and seeing just where Hawks will end up.
It’s also incredibly easy to learn, but just as hard to master, making mechanics rather simplistic, but putting all of the difficulty and tension in decision-making and team management. We can’t wait to see more.
Star Wars Zero Company will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows PC on the 27th of August, 2026.
Stay tuned for our full review closer to release.
Featured header image provided by the publisher.
